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FULTON COUNTY -- April 1 – 7, 2013 is National Public Health Week (NPHW). The Fulton County Health Services teams remind residents that the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness is dedicated to promoting, protecting and assuring the health and wellness of the people of Fulton County. During NPHW, residents are encouraged to join the effort to keep Fulton County healthy.

Since 1995, the American Public Health Association (APHA) has served as lead organizer for National Public Health Week. During the first full week of April each year, communities across the United States have observed NPHW as a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving the public’s health.

During National Public Health Week, APHA and Fulton County Health Services encourages residents of all ages and make a difference by actively:

Ensuring a Safe, Healthy Home for Your Family

Health and safety begin at home. Make prevention a fun family tradition. Public health is in every corner of our homes. It's in the safe food in the fridge, the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors affixed to the ceiling, and the child-proof latches that keep dangerous chemicals out of little hands. Home is also where we practice healthy behaviors, such as eating right and exercising. Good prevention starts at home.

Providing a Safe Environment for Children at School

Schools are the perfect setting for improving child health. Plus, children's health is a rallying point few can ignore. Healthy children learn better — that's a fact. Research has found that students' health affects their grades, attendance, behavior and whether they graduate. And we also know that education is one of the many social determinants that influence a person's health throughout the life span.

Creating a Healthy Workplace

Wellness and safety in the workplace are good for health and for business. Let's make prevention work for us. Thanks to workers' rights and public health movements, workplaces have become dramatically safer places during the last century. Workers still get hurt and injured on the job and oftentimes such injuries — and deaths — are completely preventable. No one should have to unnecessarily risk his or her life or health to make a living.

Protecting You While You’re on the Move

Safety on the go is often in our own hands, but it's also tied to community design. Together, we can turn our streets into roads to better health. Public health never stays in just one place. It stays with you while you're on the move, keeping you safe no matter your mode of transportation. Public health — one could say — is the perfect traveling companion. In fact, the simple act of using a seat belt may be one of the most recognizable public health victories: from 1981 to 2010, seat belt use rose from 11 percent to about 85 percent, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

Empowering a Healthy Community

Support public health efforts that create healthy opportunities for all. Good health is a community affair. Resilient, well-supported public health systems are critical to our nation's health and future. They maintain the health victories we've accomplished so far, such as dramatic reductions in tobacco use, and are essential to confronting today's big problems, such as rising chronic disease rates. We also need public health to monitor and protect us from emerging health threats, keep vaccine-preventable diseases at bay, provide life-saving services for vulnerable populations and so much more.

Public health improves the conditions and behaviors that affect the health of each and every one of us. Public health battles against deadly contagious diseases and promotes healthier lifestyles. Public health seeks to reduce incidences of preventable diseases, minimize the consequences of catastrophic events, and provide the basics of sanitation, safe food, and water.